It seems Shoaib Akhter’s International career has come to an end, although the appellate tribunal in an effort to show their soft heartedness reduced his ban from five years to 18 months but they also ensured that the ban effectively ends his International career.
Is shoaib indispensable for Pakistan cricket?
Nobody is indispensable, but given the fragility of Pakistan’s pace attack these days, yes Shoaib is indispensable for Pakistan cricket. If we exclude matches against the minnows in recent times the current pace attack has very often failed to bowl out the opposition on many occasions when Shoaib was not in the team.
Pakistan won 20 out of 46 test matches when Shoaib was in the team, a win-loss ratio of 1.25 . In his absence the win-loss ratio is 0.70.
In matches he has played, Pakistan have taken their wickets at an average of 33.63, conceding almost eight runs more per wicket than Shoaib. (Excluding the minnows, Shoaib averages 26.60 per wicket, which clearly indicates he hasn’t feasted on the poorer batting line-ups.)
Shoaib took a quarter of the total wickets taken by Pakistan, but bowls less than 19% of the overs bowled by the team. The above stats prove Shoaib’s worth as Pakistan’s leading strike bowler but also highlights his fitness issues.
Is the punishment too Severe?
Shoaib sure deserved the stick for his indiscipline but to hand over a career ending ban for a media outburst against the board management is unheard of the punishment is not only heavy handed but also cruel. With the exception of Inzamam almost every Ex- cricketer criticized the decision and regarded it too severe.
In the past many other players have criticized the board publicly for its policies but no one got such severe punishment. If Shoaib’s fitness was the main issue then what about the fitness of Umar Gul and Asif? Injuries are a job hazard for fast bowlers, it’s the duty of selectors to take full fitness test of a player before selecting them.
Did Shoaib shot himself in the foot?
Yes, he is his own enemy, he is too arrogant and stubborn, many fast bowlers before him cut down their run up to avoid injuries and to prolong their careers, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Imran used to bowl with their full run up only in the beginning of their spell many a times they used to bowl with a shorter run up to conserve energy so that they can share the work load but Shoaib despite being advised by many ex-greats refused to cut his run up short which is unusually long in the first place as a result of which we often saw him leaving the field after bowling five overs, many a times he got unfit during the match and leaving his team helpless, Shoaib bowled only 18.67% of his team’s overs in comparison to 23.58% of Wasim, 21.09% of Waqar and 21.34% of Brett lee.
Shoaib Akhter lost most of his fan support because of his consistent breakdowns during the matches, in fact his fitness problems caused frequent embarrassment for the board and the selectors and pressure grew on the board to get rid of him.
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Was the board too heavy handed against him?
After the drugs scandal Shoaib’s head was always on the chopping block, he should have conducted himself properly and should have stayed away from controversies, the punishment is harsh but he had it coming.
My only contention with this decision is because of the timing of the decision and the nature of his crime, if Pakistan ever needed Shoaib the most this is the time, when Asif’s career is over due to drugs, the players on the bench might take a couple of years before they become a real threat for the opposition, Tanvir and Gul might not survive the pressure of test matches, In my opinion the board should have gradually phased him out.
The board piled up shit against Shoaib for years and then summarily executed him for just opening his mouth, PCB should also share the burden of prolonging this fiasco, the present management has never conducted itself in a professional manner as a result of this continued mismanagement we see one scandal after another, the board has a habit of creating drama out of nothing, first they turn a blind eye toward every issue and make their players think that they can get away even with murder and then when it comes to disciplining them they publicly humiliate their players and then summarily execute them, certain things have to be done behind closed doors and sometimes actions speak louder than words.
The board and its officials are also guilty of not keeping their lips sealed, they start media trial of a player and then expect him to stay quiet. The recent leaking of the chairman’s email is one example.
The board is also guilty of compromising on discipline and creating high drama with first setting up Inquiry tribunals and then reversing their every judgement in the appellate tribunal and making the country a laughing stock all over the world.
PCB management can easily learn to conduct business by learning from other boards, but these monkeys don’t even know the basic skill of aping, its not that players from other countries are not charged for indiscipline then why we don’t get to see a media circus?
The recent Harbhajan slap- gate incident in India, BCCI took swift action, kept their lips sealed until a decision was made and announced and the issue became a thing of the past, by prolonging disciplinary proceedings and by going back and forth PCB management lost its face and overly dramatized things.
Did the board managed their most valuable player properly?
The answer is a big NO, they never created a fitness regime for players, players have been using drugs and the board pretends as if they never knew anything about it, also by playing four bowlers in test matches the work load on the strike bowler increases, they never condoned his media trials in fact they fed the press continuously against him, during the Inzamam era he was often misused, domestic pitches were deliberately kept as flat as humanly possible so that Inzamam & co could score a few runs. In Wasim & Waqar era pitches were deliberately made to assist the bowlers and not the batsmen that is why they were so successful. PCB management should learn from ACB, how they manage their fast bowlers.
I have always maintained that PCB should have banned both Asif and Shoaib for the use of drugs when they tested positive two years ago, both of these players hardly played any matches during these two years they remained out of the team because the drugs remained in their bodies for more than 15 months and they sat out feigning injuries, it would have been much better if PCB had punished them at that time.
Did the board had any other way of punishing him?
In my opinion PCB should have fined him and made him sit out for four five matches.
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